Comic Strips Anger 2 on Thousand Oaks Council

A series of comic strips depicting the City Council’s pro-business majority as stoolies for developers engaged in a conspiracy to recall Councilwoman Elois Zeanah has deeply offended some council members, who say it threatens to further divide city leaders.

Mayor Judy Lazar and Councilman Mike Markey reacted angrily Wednesday to the comics, which Zeanah was personally distributing door-to-door in Thousand Oaks neighborhoods earlier this week. They illustrate Lazar banging her fist against a dais, saying Zeanah is “asking too many questions,” and Markey grunting that Zeanah “won’t do what we tell her.”

Below the council, a sinister figure looking like Cruella De Ville from “101 Dalmatians,” meant to be a caricature of businesswoman Jill Lederer, inquires: “Anyone for a pizza?”

Lederer, owner of several Domino’s pizza franchises in Thousand Oaks, was sending out notices on pizza boxes last month promoting the Zeanah recall. She is part of Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah, the committee working to oust the slow-growth activist.

The cartoons also appear to show City Manager Grant Brimhall with his tongue hanging out, pleading for more tax money, and Councilman Andy Fox boasting that he has friends who can get rid of Zeanah.

In fine print at the bottom of one page, the committee behind the comics, a pro-Zeanah group called Residents for Slow Growth, states that “any similarity to actual persons or events is unfortunate and utterly disgraceful.”

Lazar said she is disgusted with the comics, calling them the slimiest piece of political propaganda in Thousand Oaks history. She said the caricatures, contained in a series of fliers, are sure to inflame relations on an already torn City Council.

“The mentality is less than junior high,” Lazar said. “I’ve seen some scuzzy fliers from Elois, but this is unprecedented. This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.

“Of course it offends me, and I think it ought to offend the city,” she added. “It shows Elois’ unprofessionalism and her inability to get along. If someone does something she does not agree with, they are doing something illegal. They’re working for the developers.”

Zeanah defended the comics Wednesday, saying that in her opinion it is obvious that the City Council majority and developers are working together to remove her from Thousand Oaks politics.

“Their reaction suggests that they don’t think I should defend myself,” Zeanah said of Lazar and Markey. “This flier is a response to the smear campaign their supporters have launched against me. They just want me to lay down so they can trample me. That’s not going to happen.”

In reference to city officials’ $75-million proposal to expand the Hill Canyon waste-water treatment plant, the comics depict a group of developers sitting around a table, plotting a scheme to raise residents’ sewer fees to build a larger plant.

“It might work, but [Councilwoman Linda] Parks and Zeanah won’t allow it,” says one developer. “They won’t tax the public just to help us.”

“Gentleman, with your money, we can get rid of Elois Zeanah!” counters another builder.

Markey said he is disgusted by the comics and their implication that he is a pawn for developers and is active in the campaign to oust Zeanah. Fox, Lazar and Markey have all denied taking part in the Zeanah recall. Markey said he considers the comics libelous, but has no plans to sue.

“It’s so evil, what’s in it,” Markey said. “The caricatures done of city staffers and the City Council are something straight out of World War II propaganda. I’m incensed over this.”

Because Parks’ picture is used in one of the fliers, and Zeanah was personally distributing them, Markey said both council members are obviously involved in the effort by Residents for Slow Growth, a group formed to defend Zeanah. He conceded that he may be unable to deal with Zeanah and Parks objectively after the comics attack piece.

“Both Elois and Linda are obviously a part of this,” Markey said. “It’s the most derogatory piece of literature I have seen in any campaign. I just think it’s a travesty. I’ve just had it. I’ve done everything I can to try and work with them, but they say one thing and then stab you in the back. Their credibility is zero as far as I’m concerned.”

Zeanah said her council opponents should have considered their working relationship in December when they passed her over for mayor pro tem in favor of Markey. She charged that there is a double standard on the council when it comes to civility.

“I find their reactions laughable,” Zeanah said. “Their actions are transparent. It’s very apparent what the pro-development community is trying to do. They want to get rid of me, because they want to turn Thousand Oaks into a second San Fernando Valley, and they don’t like my point of view.”

At Tuesday night’s council meeting, Zeanah asked her colleagues to respond to a resident’s request that the City Council take a straw vote not to become involved in the recall efforts. Lazar and Fox are targets of a separate recall effort.

Lazar and Markey refused to take the vote, saying they had no intention of taking part in the recalls, but that Zeanah and Parks had already crossed that line.

“There is not a small amount of hypocrisy on the part of Elois--and you can quote me on this--there is a huge amount of hypocrisy here,” Lazar said Wednesday. “Her actions already demonstrate that she has no intentions of staying out of the recalls.

“I can’t believe people would sink to this level,” she added. “It really destroys the confidence you have that you can work with these people. But I’ll say right now that I’m going to continue to try to work with Elois and Linda. I just don’t know how realistic it is.”

Parks said Wednesday that she had not seen the comics, and is not part of the group that put them together. She said she granted the group permission to use her picture and gave them a quote in support of Zeanah because she wants the recall of her council ally to stop.

“My efforts are to stop the recall against Elois, and if my quote and my picture help, then so be it,” she said. “I don’t have anything to do with the group.”